Bowling Green Marsh bird hide

Today I popped along to the hide at Bowling Green Marsh, Topsham, to meet the legendary John Allan, and brush up on my wader identification skills.  A female Smew has been hanging around the marsh for a few days and I was lucky enough to spot it, on numerous occasions, diving away in front of the hide.  This was probably my first sighting of Smew, although I find it difficult to remember which birds I used to see when I went out with the YOC many years ago.

Also in attendance were most of the other duck species I’d expect to see, Mallard, Teal, Widgeon, Gadwall, Shoveller, Pochard, Pintail, Tufted ducks and Shelducks.  There were also large numbers of Avocets, Godwits (black tailed), Curlew and Redshank.

John attends the hide at some point during most weekends, and today he and Margaret were helping inexperienced visitors to identify birds with a scope.